estates, as in the case of Eliezer, of Ziba, and the sons of Bilhah, and Zilpah.  When there were no sons, or when they were unworthy, bought servants were made heirs.  Prov. xvii. 2.  We find traces of this usage in the New Testament.  “But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves saying, this is the heir, come let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.”  Luke xx. 14.  In no instance does a hired servant inherit his master’s estate. 3.  Marriages took place between servants and their master’s daughters.  “Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.  And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife.” 1 Chron. ii. 34, 35.  There is no instance of a hired servant forming such an alliance. 4.  Bought servants and their descendants were treated with the same affection and respect as the other members of the family.[A] The treatment of Abraham’s servants.  Gen. xxiv. and xviii. 1-7; the intercourse between Gideon and Phurah Judg. vii. 10, 11; Saul and his servant, 1 Sam. ix. 5, 22; Jonathan and his servant, 1 Sam. xiv. 1-14, and Elisha and Gehazi are illustrations.  The tenderness exercised towards home-born servants or the children of handmaids, and the strength of the tie that bound them to the family, are employed by the Psalmist to illustrate the regard of God for him, his care over him, and his own endearing relation to him, when in the last extremity he prays, “Save the son of thy handmaid.”  Ps. lxxxvi. 16.  So also in Ps. cxvi. 16.  Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid.  Also, Jer. ii. 14.  Is Israel a servant?  Is he a home-born?[B] WHY IS HE SPOILED?  No such tie seems to have existed between hired servants and their masters.  Their untrustworthiness was proverbial.  John x. 12, 13.  They were reckoned at but half the value of bought servants.  Deut. xv. 18.  None but the lowest class of the people engaged as hired servants, and the kinds of labor assigned to them required little knowledge and skill.  No persons seem to have become hired servants except such as were forced to it from extreme poverty.  The hired servant is called “poor and needy,” and the reason assigned by God why he should be paid as soon as he had finished his work is, “For he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it.”  Deut. xxiv. 14, 15.  See also, 1 Sam. ii. 5.  Various passages show the low repute and trifling character of the class from which they were hired.  Judg. ix. 4; 1 Sam. ii. 5.  The superior condition of bought servants is manifest in the high trust confided to them, and in their dignity and authority in the household.  In no instance is a hired servant thus distinguished.  The bought servant is manifestly the master’s representative in the family, sometimes with plenipotentiary powers over adult children, even negotiating marriage for them.  Abraham adjured his servant, not to take a wife for